What do you love about teaching?

The thing I love the most about teaching is that you never really know what you will encounter in the classroom. It’s a double-edged sword. You may plan all you want but sometimes it just won’t work. Other times you may play it by ear and have the best class ever. I’ve learned to keep tricks up my sleeve. I love how dynamic teaching can be.

What are some memorable projects you’ve had students do and how do they reflect your goals as an educator?

An activity that comes to mind is when I ask students to draw a map of a familiar outdoor space. Then I ask them to reflect on their spatial representation: where were they accurate and where were they creative? It is a good exercise to speak about cartography and values of space. Another memorable activity is final projects. I ask students to pair their abilities and interests with course material in the creation of an artifact of their choosing. I’ve had students submit songs, poems, paintings, videos, graphics, etc. They reflect my goals as an educator because I strive to have students question their own held beliefs, about space for example, and make use of their artistic strengths to produce an artifact related to the course.

What one piece of advice would you give your students?

Be kind to yourself. Take rests and decompress. Afterwards, tackle the long to-do list.